The Best Reason to Take Social Security Long Before Age 70

The biggest Social Security decision you'll ever make is likely to be when to start collecting benefits. You have probably worked decades for them, and you'll be eager to start that income flowing as you approach and enter retirement.

There's no one single age that's best for everyone, though, so you'll need to think through the decision for yourself. Here's a look at the best reason to start collecting those benefits early.

Image source: Getty Images.

Your benefits can be bigger or smaller

To set the stage, everyone has a full retirement age (FRA) at which they can start collecting the full benefits to which they are entitled (their primary insurance amount), based on their earnings history. That age is 66, 67, or somewhere in between, depending on their date of birth. But someone can start collecting benefits as early as age 62.

Starting early means your checks will be smaller, but you'll receive many more of them. Delaying until age 70 can make your checks bigger by 8% for every year beyond your full retirement age -- but you'll receive fewer checks overall. (Delaying beyond age 70 will not increase checks any further.)

Check out the table below, as it shows what percentage of your full benefits you'll receive depending on when you start collecting them:

Source: Social Security Administration. 

Clearly, it's appealing to wait until age 70, if you can, since your benefits will plump up by at least 24%. A $2,000 benefit ($24,000 per year) will become a $2,480 benefit -- or nearly $30,000 annually.

Why you might start collecting long before age 70

So why wouldn't you do all that you can to delay starting to collect your benefits as close to 70 as possible? Here's the main reason: If you can't afford to delay.

Many people just can't afford to retire at, say, 62, even though they might want to. For example, according to the 2022 Retirement Confidence Survey by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute, 34% of workers surveyed said that the total value of their savings and investments, excluding the value of their primary home, was less than $25,000.

Even worse, roughly 1 in 5 people had less than $1,000 saved. If you end up retiring earlier than planned and don't have a nest egg sufficient to support you, you might have to start Social Security benefits as soon as possible.

Here are some more circumstances that can make it smart to start collecting early:

• You stand a realistic chance of living a shorter-than-average life: If many of your relatives have died way too soon and/or you're not in great health yourself, it can be smart to start collecting benefits sooner rather than later. You could receive more, in total, from the program that way.
• Your household loses income: Many people unexpectedly find themselves out of work before they plan to retire. If that happens to you and you can't find a new job with similar income, you could end up retiring earlier than planned -- and needing those Social Security benefits.
• Your household experiences a health setback: Similarly, you or your spouse might experience an illness that keeps you out of the workforce and forces an early retirement.

Why some people might want to delay until age 70

Of course, there are some valid reasons to delay until age 70. For example:

• If you expect to live a longer-than-average life: Those who live an average-length life will collect about the same sum in total benefits no matter when they turn on the spigot, but those who live extra-long lives will come out ahead if they delay, making their benefits bigger.
• If you want as much inflation protection as possible: While some income streams for retirees are fixed, and therefore lose purchasing power over time, Social Security benefits are adjusted upward as often as annually to account for inflation. These cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are often not fully sufficient to offset the price increases experienced by seniors, but they are much better than nothing. Considering that a retirement might last for two to three decades, the bigger your initial benefit, the bigger your subsequent increases will be.
• If you can afford to do so: Few people know how long they'll live, so if you can afford to wait until age 70 to collect your benefits, you might do so.

Everyone's situation is different, so consider your big picture, crunch some numbers, and see when it might make the most sense for you to start collecting your Social Security benefits.